![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/9780063236578-199x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A Spy Like Me – Kim Sherwood<\/a> What sets Sherwood\u2019s Bond work apart is how she plants them firmly in the modern age, beyond even where the Daniel Craig era pulled the movie franchise. I\u2019m sure a lot of geezers get annoyed by all the wokeness – \u201cHow can there be gay spies?!?!\u201d – but her characters fit our age, so those old fogies can piss off.<\/p>\n I still struggle with Sherwood\u2019s writing style. It is also far different than the many other authors who have carried the series since Ian Fleming\u2019s death. I keep arguing with myself on whether a Bond novel should have a certain core style, or if it is ok to break free of those restraints. Maybe the combination of her writing with a more edgy, modern flair and the very modern characters is too much for me? Maybe I\u2019m an old fogey?!?!<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t love this. But I\u2019ll stick with Sherwood for one more book to see how her arc turns out. And maybe at the end it will all make sense to me.<\/p>\n A Christmas Story – Jean Shepherd<\/a> Brothers – Alex Van Halen<\/a> Alex runs through the Van Halen brothers\u2019 lives, from early childhood in Holland to moving to the US to discovering rock music and launching their band. He marches through Van Halen\u2019s history up to when David Lee Roth left the band in 1985. Then he stops, jumping ahead to describe his life as a 70-year-old and his continued grief at the loss of his younger brother in 2020. There are lots of good tidbits from each section but, again, I think if you\u2019ve read about the band or watched shows about them, you either know some of the stories or could guess at them.<\/p>\n I guess my point is the book is not gossipy at all. When he shares details that might shock people, they are often via quotes from already published works. So, again, a fan would be familiar with them. He talks about how he and Eddie fought constantly, but they also loved each other more than anyone else and always had each other\u2019s backs. How he felt that his brother crumpled under the pressure of being labeled a \u201cguitar genius.\u201d How the entire band took things too far to the extremes at times. How DLR drove them all nuts nearly from the beginning. How disappointed he was when that initial incarnation of the band ended. There\u2019s nothing super controversial in his words, though. He often defends DLR, saying his wackiness was the perfect counter to the VH brothers\u2019 musical talent. That you need someone who loves the public eye and is ambitious if you want to be successful.<\/p>\n However, he barely mentions Michael Anthony. He does drop Sammy Hagar\u2019s name a couple times, but only in the context of how the Red Rocker once opened for Van Halen and how, before they signed their first recording contract, their manager wanted to boot DLR for Hagar. There\u2019s not a word about the Van Hagar years. Nor what came after that. Perhaps because his brother wasn\u2019t as happy in these years, or Alex\u2019s partying got out of hand and he eventually had to get sober to stay healthy and able to play.<\/p>\n As I said, much of the book is Alex\u2019s reaction to quotes from others. He pulls lengthy passages from books by DLR, producer Ted Templeman, manager Noel Monk, and many interviews with Eddie and then shares his reaction to them. Sometimes he provides context, sometimes he argues, sometimes he supports. I found that manufactured dialog fun to read. Often when he disagreed with someone, Alex pointed out that he understood where the other person was coming from. I expected the book to be more combative, for some reason. Maybe Alex has mellowed as he aged. Or perhaps I\u2019ve had the wrong view of him for 40-some years. I like this mature Alex, though. He\u2019s old enough to know a lot of the things we fight about are kind of silly and there\u2019s nothing productive by remaining upset about them years later.<\/p>\n Because of all those quotes\/reactions, the book can come across as a little light. I still really enjoyed it. My biggest takeaway is how much Alex loved, and continues to love, his brother and how proud he is of what they created. And that Alex is probably a pretty good dude to hang out with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Spy Like Me – Kim Sherwood The second installment in Sherwood\u2019s planned 007 trilogy, it continues to tread ground that is very unlike anything ever written for the Bond franchise. James Bond himself remains absent (mostly), as the rest of the Double-Os attempt to unravel a network that finances terror attacks before it can strike again. They\u2019re also searching for clues for Bond\u2019s status and whereabouts. And seem to be getting killed off at a fairly concerning rate. Oh, and is there a double agent in their midst? What sets Sherwood\u2019s Bond work apart is how she plants them firmly in the modern age, beyond even where the Daniel Craig era pulled the movie franchise. I\u2019m sure a lot of geezers get annoyed by all the wokeness – \u201cHow can there be gay spies?!?!\u201d – but her characters fit our age, so those old fogies can piss off. I still struggle with Sherwood\u2019s writing style. It is also far different than the many other authors who have carried the series since Ian Fleming\u2019s death. I keep arguing with myself on whether a Bond novel should have a certain core style, or if it is ok to break free of those restraints. Maybe the combination of her writing with a more edgy, modern flair and the very modern characters is too much for me? Maybe I\u2019m an old fogey?!?! I didn\u2019t love this. But I\u2019ll stick with Sherwood for one more book to see how her arc turns out. And maybe at the end it will all make sense to me. A Christmas Story – Jean Shepherd The 17th straight December I\u2019ve sat down for a few hours to revist this classic. Still makes me laugh. Brothers – Alex Van Halen I got this after reading the New York Times article about it I linked to a few weeks back. I was intrigued by Alex\u2019s seeming willingness to share more than the standard, aging-rocker bits about his life, career, and relationship with his late brother Eddie. This book was certainly frank, but I wouldn\u2019t describe it as surprising. Alex runs through the Van Halen brothers\u2019 lives, from early childhood in Holland to moving to the US to discovering rock music and launching their band. He marches through Van Halen\u2019s history up to when David Lee Roth left the band in 1985. Then he stops, jumping ahead to describe his life as a 70-year-old and his continued grief at the loss of his younger brother in 2020. There are lots of good tidbits from each section but, again, I think if you\u2019ve read about the band or watched shows about them, you either know some of the stories or could guess at them. I guess my point is the book is not gossipy at all. When he shares details that might shock people, they are often via quotes from already published works. So, again, a fan would be familiar with them. He talks about how he and Eddie fought constantly, but they also loved each other more than anyone else and always had each other\u2019s backs. How he felt that his brother crumpled under the pressure of being labeled a \u201cguitar genius.\u201d How the entire band took things too far to the extremes at times. How DLR drove them all nuts nearly from the beginning. How disappointed he was when that initial incarnation of the band ended. There\u2019s nothing super controversial in his words, though. He often defends DLR, saying his wackiness was the perfect counter to the VH brothers\u2019 musical talent. That you need someone who loves the public eye and is ambitious if you want to be successful. However, he barely mentions Michael Anthony. He does drop Sammy Hagar\u2019s name a couple times, but only in the context of how the Red Rocker once opened for Van Halen and how, before they signed their first recording contract, their manager wanted to boot DLR for Hagar. There\u2019s not a word about the Van Hagar years. Nor what came after that. Perhaps because his brother wasn\u2019t as happy in these years, or Alex\u2019s partying got out of hand and he eventually had to get sober to stay healthy and able to play. As I said, much of the book is Alex\u2019s reaction to quotes from others. He pulls lengthy passages from books by DLR, producer Ted Templeman, manager Noel Monk, and many interviews with Eddie and then shares his reaction to them. Sometimes he provides context, sometimes he argues, sometimes he supports. I found that manufactured dialog fun to read. Often when he disagreed with someone, Alex pointed out that he understood where the other person was coming from. I expected the book to be more combative, for some reason. Maybe Alex has mellowed as he aged. Or perhaps I\u2019ve had the wrong view of him for 40-some years. I like this mature Alex, though. He\u2019s old enough to know a lot of the things we fight about are kind of silly and there\u2019s nothing productive by remaining upset about them years later. Because of all those quotes\/reactions, the book can come across as a little light. I still really enjoyed it. My biggest takeaway is how much Alex loved, and continues to love, his brother and how proud he is of what they created. And that Alex is probably a pretty good dude to hang out with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-15940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-books"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15940"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15945,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15940\/revisions\/15945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe second installment in Sherwood\u2019s planned 007<\/em> trilogy, it continues to tread ground that is very unlike anything ever written for the Bond franchise. James Bond himself remains absent (mostly), as the rest of the Double-Os attempt to unravel a network that finances terror attacks before it can strike again. They\u2019re also searching for clues for Bond\u2019s status and whereabouts. And seem to be getting killed off at a fairly concerning rate. Oh, and is there a double agent in their midst?<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/9780767916226-194x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nThe 17th straight December I\u2019ve sat down for a few hours to revist this classic. Still makes me laugh.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/9780063265707-199x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nI got this after reading the New York Times<\/em> article about it I linked to a few weeks back<\/a>. I was intrigued by Alex\u2019s seeming willingness to share more than the standard, aging-rocker bits about his life, career, and relationship with his late brother Eddie. This book was certainly frank, but I wouldn\u2019t describe it as surprising.<\/p>\n